PAT CAPUTO: NFL playoff picture features tale of two very different quarterbacks

It should not come as a surprise to those who follow the Lions the San Francisco 49ers will face the Atlanta Falcons in the NFC championship game.

The Lions were 5-0 to begin the 2011 season, and riding the crest of a 9-game winning streak overall, when the 49ers came to Ford Field and extinguished the magic. The Falcons visited Detroit the following week, and did the exact same thing.

Those two games were eerily alike in style. The 49ers and Falcons gashed the Lions with their running backs. After the body blows, they did just enough with the passing attacks to knock the Lions out. Defensively, both teams made life uncomfortable for Lions' quarterback Matthew Stafford.

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Those losses began a span in which the Lions have compiled a dismal 9-20 record (counting the playoff loss at New Orleans).

Yet, while the 49ers and Falcons have exposing the Lions in common, otherwise they present very different stories.

Begin at quarterback. The Falcons' Matt Ryan is hardly an older player, but he is much more seasoned than his counterpart with the 49ers, Colin Kaepernick.

Lions fans don't have fond memories of Ryan. When he was a rookie, he changed the standard for quarterbacks by having veteran-like success immediately. For Ryan, it was the opening game of the 2008 season in Atlanta. The Lions, who were 7-9 the season before, and somewhat optimistic after going 4-0 in the preseason, were three-point favorites, despite being on the road. Ryan was terrific in his NFL debut, and the Lions were routed, setting the tone for their unforgettable 0-16 season.

Ryan broke the mold that young NFL quarterbacks must struggle. He threw for more than 3,000 yards, and had five more TD passes than interceptions, in 2008. The Falcons won 11 games. They had just four victories the year before. They have been very good since. The problem has been the playoffs, especially last season when they scored no offensive points in the opening round vs. the eventual Super Bowl champion Giants.

If there was ever a QB needing a victory to erase a stigma, it was Matt Ryan on Sunday vs. the Seattle Seahawks. What he did was unreal - Spear-heading a game winning drive with two huge completions after his team blew a 20-point lead, taking the ball over with only 31 seconds left.

But Ryan isn't the talk of the NFL.

It is, instead, Kaepernick.

Flash forward five years from 2008. The mold that Ryan set is now considered "back in the day."

What he did that was so impressive in 2008, is now mundane. Rookies Andrew Luck, Robert Griffin III and Russell Wilson stepped into the league this season and starred to an even bigger degree.

Kaepernick is in his second season. A second-round draft pick in 2012 after a record-setting career under the radar in college at Nevada, he didn't get a chance until Alex Smith, the 49ers' starter as they went to the NFC championship game last season, went out with a concussion.

Smith was playing well at the time. Still, it's amazing how much better Kaepernick is, though.

I can remember a QB performing like Kaepernick did while leading the 49ers stunning rout of the Packers Saturday, but it wasn't in an NFL game. Rather, it was the Rose Bowl when Vince Young, the Texas' quarterback, literally ran by Michigan.

Young, with about the same size-speed equation as Kaepernick, did lead the Titans to the playoffs one season, but his NFL career did a quick downturn. Kaepernick is everything Vince Young was supposed to be. In other words, there is poise and guile combined with his glaring physical tools.

Running quarterbacks are nothing new in the NFL. In fact, most of the top career rushing averages per carry are held by quarterbacks. But even with that reminder, Kaepernick broke the charts vs. the Packers. This isn't Michael Vick, a blazing fast runner, but on the smallish side and destined to get hurt. He is 6-4, 230 pounds. His throwing mechanics are outstanding. Poise is not an issue.

Outside of quarterback, these are very good teams. Both are strong on both sides of the ball. There is balance between the passing game and the running attack. Wide receiver Michael Crabtree's emergence may be an even bigger factor for the 49ers than Kaepernick.

It will likely come down to two quarterbacks, who have each broken the mold, albeit in different times and different ways.